I Got To Play A Cello!

Hello!

Elder Byrd and I have had a great week! Elder Byrd is especially awesome! This morning, we just had a zone p. day. A member let us use their gymnastics gym for a while; which was lots of fun! This is a great zone! The other missionaries are really uplifting and encouraging! All of our district and zone meetings are great, and I can feel the Spirit very strong in them!

So the highlights of the week: We taught a newly returning, less-active member in our ward’s mission prep class; I had a great exchange with Elder Brown (Yorktown Ward,), in which we met a lukewarm bible-basher; I got to play a cello! (finally!), We saw some dead fish in a ditch!

We actually met the returning less-active member visiting her former mother-in-law. She was living in Utah for a while, and upon moving back here she’s decided she wants to be active again! She actually posted on the ward Facebook page to see if anyone had a cello I could borrow to play in the Ward talent show which was on Saturday! It turned out someone’s son had a cello he hadn’t played in 4 years. Even though it was a 3/4 size, it was great to play a cello again! I didn’t have any unaccompanied pieces on me, so I just printed out Prelude of Bach Suite I and played that. We were actually able to use me playing in the talent show to get an investigator to come! A member also brought her non-member friend she had told us about, so it was a success!

On Wednesday, we were asked to teach a segment in our ward’s mission prep class on the MTC and first weeks of the mission. We had previously asked the youth leaders how we could help with the youth because we want to help them have a missionary mindset. We ended up teaching the whole class and it turned more into a conversation of what serving a mission is really all about. That was a great testimony builder for me to be able to share my experiences and inspire others with the Spirit.

After our awesome district meeting this week, I went on exchanges with Elder Brown! I guess I had my first real bible-basher experience. A man was watering his lawn and asked us why we think we need the Book of Mormon to be saved. We basically went through the whole first lesson to help him understand why God needed to provide further witness of Christ. However, his question persisted; He simply could not understand why we would need any further witness than the Bible. We also explained that we are not saved by the book itself, but by grace and our adherence to the gospel, but he did not see the distinction. I could tell no matter how we explained it to him, he would deny us, so I gave him my testimony that the Book of Mormon was true. He couldn’t argue that, so he told me his testimony was that it was not true, but I could not feel the Spirit in his words. We left that man with a prayer of peace, and an even further conviction in our hearts that the work we have been called to do is of God. He did restore the fullness of the gospel to the earth along with the priesthood, and I know that is true!

Well, I just want to let y’all know that I pray for you, and I am deeply grateful for the people in my life who have helped me become a better person! Keep on being awesome!